Questions on the Repave of Iowa Speedway Re-arise as IndyCar Prepares for its Doubleheader this Weekend
By Marlee Ressa | @motorsportmarlee
INDIANAPOLIS – The big question going into the IndyCar doubleheader at Iowa Speedway this weekend remains the same as last year: how will the repave affect the quality of racing?
Three-time IndyCar Champion Alex Palou seemed to have the same doubts he had after the 2024 doubleheader as he did following the 2025 Iowa test.
Last year, after his second-place finish in race two, Palou stated, “The IndyCars we had, the package of IndyCar tire, aero, engine, whatever we had on track this weekend, it was impossible to make it run.”
This past weekend at Mid-Ohio, when commenting on the 2025 Iowa test, his sentiment remained unaltered. “We were trying everything we could, IndyCar in general and all the teams, trying to get a package that was going to be better,” Palau said, “I don’t think we found it.”
Palau is not the only IndyCar driver who expressed concern over potential issues with Iowa during the Mid-Ohio race weekend. Penske driver Will Power, who last year won the second race of the doubleheader from 22nd, also spoke on how the recent test went for him.
“The challenge is being able to hold on for a stint,” Power remarked, “They’ve just added so much downforce. It’s so stuck that it’s actually painful. I did half a stint, and I’m like, man, I didn’t know if I could actually continue. Like, I think there’s going to be people like stopping just because it’s so painful. It’s too much, too much grip.”
Outside of the IndyCar package and the physical effects it brings on, another issue that will come into play is the second lane. More specifically, the lack thereof.
With a second-place finish in the first race in 2024, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren, Pato O’Ward, felt frustrated in his inability to pass on track. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed,” O’Ward stated after his podium finish, “Really tough to get that second lane working. Compared to I don’t know how many on-track passes we had last year, probably not even a 10th of that… Just no way to get around a car.”
Arrow McLaren teammate, Christian Lundgaard, after his third-place finish this past weekend at Mid-Ohio, also remarked on the struggle to open the second lane while racing on a repaved Iowa.
“I think all of us used to at least like the racing,” Lundgaard said, “I don’t know about you, but at least before they repaved it, I thought the racing was quite awesome, and I think after the repave, I think it’s just a lot more single-file racing, and I think we would prefer some more double-lane racing in that sense.”
David Malukus, driver of the No. 4 A.J. Foyt car that inherited second place at this year’s Indianapolis 500, is one of the few who seem to have faith that IndyCar can deliver a package that can reinstate the kind of racing we saw in Iowa previous to the repave.
“Iowa used to be an incredible circuit for us with many, many passes,” Malukas stated, “so hopefully with these changes and the new package IndyCar is working on, hopefully we can get back to the old ways.”
Photo credits: Charlie Neibergall/AP